


American Gods, Season 1, Episode 3, Head Full of Snow

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: American Gods (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e03 Head Full of Snow, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25650409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.





	American Gods, Season 1, Episode 3, Head Full of Snow

There’s scenery.

After the scenery, in a flat in Queens, New York, an Egyptian woman causes me to twitch by standing on a shaky stool to get food down. Nearby, there’s an adorable Sphynx cat I had no clue was CGI until I read all these people complaining about how obviously CGI it was.

I didn’t notice this, but some have pointed out the woman doesn’t acknowledge the cat until after she gets down.

There’s a knock on the door, and she answers it to find Anubis.

It’s revealed she did die from falling off the stool. He promises her family will do right by her body, and there’s a funny but slightly confusing exchange about how one of her male family members will name his first daughter for her. Either the daughter will have her first name and a bullshit middle name, or a bullshit middle name will be given to honour her.

Her spirit does minor rearranging to the clothes on her dead body.

“This is a Muslim home. Why does Anubis hold out his hand for me?”

This woman’s loved one versed her on Egyptian mythology, is the answer.

I’ve read various interpretations of this scene, but I’ve yet to see this one (which isn’t to say someone hasn’t posited it, just that I haven’t come across it): The faith of the loved one is being rewarded. It’s not necessarily her telling the stories to the woman that brought Anubis here, it’s the fact she herself was faithful, and as thanks, Anubis is offering the best chance he can at reuniting and rewarding the two of them together. The fact the woman remembers the stories is only important, because, she’s more likely to accept what he’s saying due to have heard them at a young enough age.

Deciding to go with him, she urges him to taste the food she was preparing before they do.

He sincerely declares, “It is perfect.”

There’s breath-taking imagery, and eventually, her weighed heart is found to be pure. Presenting her with several door, he tells her to choose. She asks him to choose for her, but when he does, she shows hesitation.

The cat pushes her in, and the door closes.

At the Z home, Shadow meets the youngest Z sister in a dream. At one point, she kisses him. Then, making it clear she isn’t into kissing, she plucks the moon out of the sky to give to him it in coin form.

Waking up, Shadow goes to Male Z’s room to propose another game. If Male Z wins, he gets to hit Shadow two times with the hammer, and if Shadow wins, Male Z will go with Shadow and Odin, and then, after everything is settled, kill Shadow.

Male Z agrees.

There’s scenes of Odin laying his charm on the eldest Z sister intercut Shadow and Male Z’s game. There’s a brief scene of the youngest Z sister looking at the stars. Eventually, Shadow wins.

In the morning, Shadow finds the moon coin in his pocket. Odin appears, and either he somehow knew Shadow wasn’t going to die today via hammer, or his careless dismissal and lack of questioning at finding Shadow still alive paints him as even more sociopathic than other episodes have implied.

“We’re gonna rob a bank. You want some coffee?” Heh.

Elsewhere, Mad Sweeney is passed out on a public toilet. It’s worth noting he does still have some luck: his shirt is arranged so that none of his penis can be seen.

Appearing, a woman with a gun orders him to leave, and he’s unafraid until she shoots the bottle of beer he’s holding.

Next, he’s limping down a road in the hot sun when a kind stranger pulls up, and MS is so ungracious and annoying in accepting the kindness, I wish the woman had actually hit him somewhere instead of the bottle.

This road trip lasts about two seconds before the kind driver suddenly ends up with a literal pipe through his head.

I mourn your passing, kind stranger.

Later, when an officer or forensic technician makes a comment about bad luck, an implied to be unseen MS discovers his lucky gold coin is missing.

There’s a brief shot of the unseen Mr Ibis writing, and then, back in New York, Salim, portrayed by Omid Abtahi, is introduced. He’s a Muslim businessman down on his luck. After he spends all day waiting to see a man who refuses to see him in addition to being ignored by the man’s secretary, he goes into the rainy night, and he’s splashed on by a car driving into a nearby puddle before a taxi finally stops for him.

I’ve come across some interesting theories about how Salim’s story during this episode might be taking place in the 1980s. I don’t believe it is, but if it is, does this mean the Jinn did something to prevent or drastically slow ageing in Salim? Based on everything shown in this season and the second, I don’t believe Salim has any powers, but there’s always the possibility this will change.

The driver is a man with sunglasses on, and for some reason, I never stopped to wonder about him wearing sunglasses at night. It’s revealed he speaks Arabic, and the beginning of a connection between the two starts to take root as Salim talks to him in Arabic. It’s established they’re both immigrants.

Salim gives a rundown on his problems: He’s working for his brother-in-law, said brother-in-law hates him, he’s doing terribly with his job, he’s lonely, and living in America is getting more and more expensive.

Showing vague sympathy, the Jinn hints at his own issues.

Later, none of the cars are moving, and the Jinn has fallen asleep. Salim reaches out to wake him, and both Abtahi and the camera work do wonderfully with the moment where Salim hesitates before making contact.

When the Jinn wakes up, his sunglasses slip down, and in the mirror, Salim sees flaming eyes.

I’m not sure if the Jinn knew Salim saw or not, but Salim makes it clear he did. It’s established the driver is a jinn, and he complains about everyone thinking jinn grant wishes and how horrible he finds his own job. On the top of the list is the fact someone once defecated in the back of his cab.

Hearing this, Salim would visibly rather be anywhere else but the back of said cab, but he expresses his sympathy by putting a comforting hand on the Jinn’s shoulder. In response, the Jinn touches Salim’s hand.

I’m not sure who’s POV this is, but the hands touching results in windy desert imagery.

They get to Salim’s hotel, and paying him, Salim says to keep the change. Then, Salim gets out, and with no visible hesitation, he offers, “I’m in room 318.”

This raises several questions about Salim. I haven’t read the whole book, but I have read the chapter involving him. In it, it’s clear he does have some sexual experience, and I think the show does somewhat imply the same. He’s always had to be extremely careful and likely has never had an actual romantic relationship or a long-term sexual one, but he has been sought out/managed to find men to be with sexually.

Based on the beginning of the hotel scene, this invitation clearly wasn’t a platonic, ‘Hey, if you want to talk some more, come on up,’ that happened to develop into more after the fact.

However, what made him know/suspect the Jinn was attracted to men? And even with him presumably knowing/suspecting this, this is a man who comes from a country where engaging in homosexual acts carries a great risk of incredibly harsh penalties. He’s been afraid of mortal men and women for who knows how many years of his life. The jinn isn’t a mortal. He’s a supernatural creature, and despite parts of America being much safer to be gay in than in Omar, if a mortal does something to truly offend the Jinn, he likely can do horrible things to them without fear of being caught.

What made Salim be brave in this instance?

Despite these questions, everyone did a great job with this scene. The two actors have wonderful chemistry, and aside from the explicit emotional connection the audience saw unfolding, there were undercurrents hinting at a different kind of connection. Salim’s hesitation mixed with clear desire to simply touch the Jinn’s shoulder was a big hint on him possibly being closeted, and though the Jinn didn’t do anything I took as a hint at a sexual interest in Salim, it was clear he felt something deeper than just liking this stranger on a basic, superficial level.

Before the Jinn can respond to this invitation, a woman gets into the back.

The next scene has Salim and the Jinn in a lift. Salim tentatively reaches to hold his hand, and the Jinn wraps his fingers around Salim’s.

In the room, Salim is sitting on the bed in just a shirt and underwear. The Jinn comes out in nothing but a towel, and like Salim, I’m entranced by his fiery eyes.

“I wish you can see what I see,” Salim almost tearfully states.

Completely baring himself and taking off Salim’s shirt, the Jinn declares, “I do not grant wishes.”

Touching the Jinn’s face and likely feeling safer than he has ever had before in being able to touch a beautiful man, never mind one he’s actually had the opportunity to form an emotional bond with, Salim points out, “But you do.”

He sinks to his knees, and Abtahi does a great job when the Jinn pulls Salim up. He’s confused and afraid he’s done something wrong, and the realisation this isn’t going to just be a quick encounter somewhat overwhelms him.

The kiss they share is so sweet, and I’m not sure why, but I’m always taken aback by how completely gentle Salim’s trip onto the bed is. I didn’t expect the Jinn to throw him on it or anything, but I think it’s the gentlest I’ve ever seen a TV couple about to engage in sex get onto a bed.

I personally find the sex scene to be beautifully and tenderly passionate. There’s some awesome desert imagery thrown in along with them both turning charcoal black and showing the fiery essence radiating throughout the Jinn’s body.

In the morning, Salim wakes up alone to find the Jinn has taken his (Salim’s) suit and ID and left his own clothes and an ID with a name and picture matching neither of them. Going out to the cab and putting on the sunglasses, he facetiously repeats in the mirror, “I do not grant wishes.”

I saw this episode before I read Salim’s chapter, but I never thought Salim was turned into a jinn, and I wonder what the show might have done to make it clearer he simply gave Salim the identity he was using and took some of Salim’s stuff for a new identity of his own. It might have been the last line, but I’m not sure. I’ve always taken it to be like, ‘With you, I was able to be completely mentally, emotionally, and physically bare with another person, and on top of this, you’ve given the chance to leave the life I hate and make a better one for myself, but sure, you don’t grant wishes.’

At the Dominion Public Building, Odin announces this is the bank he’ll be robbing.

Shadow is so not down with any plans to rob a bank, but Odin promises Shadow isn’t going to suffer from doing this.

Inside, they both try to avoid the cameras, and Odin does a better job than Shadow. There are Easter eggs containing Mr World and Media, and if a person wanted, they could find screencaps of them.

Odin grabs a bunch of deposit slips, and then, decides some hot chocolate will make Shadow feel better.

He has Shadow jolt a payphone’s number down, possibly so he can scam the hot chocolates from the servers without Shadow interfering.

Coming back, he asks if Shadow likes marshmallows, and despite his irritation and incredulity over all this, Shadow does appreciate the marshmallows Odin got him. Heh.

Odin insists Shadow concentrate on snow.

There’s imagery as Shadow does, and then, in a copy shop, I would swear there’s a reflection of Technical Boy in the window. Moving on, Odin and Shadow have a semi-theological discussion about Jesus, and I actually learned something from this scene!

I knew the combination of ‘wet’ and ‘back’ was an epithet towards Mexicans, but I never knew why or how it came about. Part of this is, because, I had no idea some people crossed the borders between Mexico and America via water. I always thought it was either by land vehicle or just walking.

Getting some cards, Odin enlists help from a White Jesus with making posters, and Shadow continues thinking of snow with more imagery.

Lo and behold, it’s suddenly snowing, and Shadow doesn’t know what to make of this.

I love the rhyming exchange between the two:

“I thought of snow.”

“And it snowed. What do you know?”

In a café, Odin is trying to get Shadow to eat, and Shadow is still preoccupied with the whole he might have managed to manipulate the weather via thought thing.

Odin usually has great lines, but his line about Shadow having no problem believing tiny people in television can predict the weather isn’t one of them.

Now, I can’t explain exactly how TV works, but I literally know people who can. I’m sure if I had more patience to learn, one of these people could explain it to where I did understand and could likewise give a detailed presentation. Aside from possibly young children and/or people with several mental disabilities, people who have lived during the existence of TVs know the TV doesn’t truly contain miniature people.

Likewise, when it comes to weather, I highly doubt there are many, if any, people who take weather reports at complete face value. Science is used to make a guess about what the weather might be during a certain window of time, and someone reports these guesses to the masses. Meteorology has not yet joined the ranks of what can be described as ‘an exact science’.

This out of the way, MS appears. He demands his coin back.

“The coin you gave me,” is Shadow’s response.

“Witness! He has a point,” Odin interjects.

Stealing some of Shadow’s food, MS explains he gave Shadow the wrong coin.

Shadow says the coin was left on Laura’s grave, and MS has a gross, slut-shaming line. Blegh.

“Be nice,” Odin sternly orders. Heh.

I imagine Shadow doesn’t want to draw any attention to himself, but if I were him, I’d probably be calling the police in Eagle Point, Indiana to give a description of MS with the explanation I left a coin on a loved one grave’s and was worried MS might desecrate said loved one’s grave in an attempt at finding the coin.

MS leaves, and Odin says, “I’ll see you back at the car. Just make sure he doesn’t steal it.”

Good advice.

Next, Odin gives Shadow a business card reading A. Haddock before directing him back to the phone booth. If anyone asks why Shadow is hanging around it, he’s to say he’s waiting for a call from his girlfriend. He adds said girlfriend is having car trouble.

On the subject of race in America, unfortunately, many people would likely assume Shadow hanging around the payphone would be gang and/or drug-related, and they would likely simply call the police rather than asking him.

Shadow wants to know what the A. stands for. “‘Asshole’ is what I feel like.”

“Nice to meet you, Asshole. I’m James O’Gorman, Jimmy to my friends. I got a card, too.” Hee.

Putting an out-of-order signs on an ATM and deposit box, Odin sits down on a fold-out chair to accept money from people. When a cop calls the payphone, Andy Haddock answers, and showing signs of getting into the con, Shadow does a good job at handling things.

Later, Odin gives Shadow his cut before going on a spiel about how America and Americans don’t know who they are.

Ignoring the speech for a moment, Odin claims he’s never been anywhere but America. Since he has an English accent, I’m surprised Shadow doesn’t question this.

Shadow comes to a sudden stop when he comes across a wolf-type creature in the middle of the road. He asks, “Did I make snow?”

“Did you make snow? Well, if you choose to believe you made snow, then, you get to live the rest of your life believing that you can do things that aren’t possible. Or you can believe it’s a delusion.”

Shadow points out delusions feel real to the people experiencing them. He says all this feel like a dream.

Here’s another line of Odin’s that misses the mark, though, I think his tone is the main problem: “What a beautiful thing to be able to dream when you’re not asleep.”

Except, there’s a widely used, recognised term for this: Daydreaming.

Daydreaming is something a large percent of the human population does. Some do it more than others, and some have much more vivid, detailed ones than others, but it’s a recognised, accepted phenomena. To me, daydreaming is a beautiful thing, but the delivery of the line is his same smug, sage philosopher shtick, and it doesn’t work in this instance.

Next, Odin asks if Shadow believes in love. The answer is yes. Odin asks if Shadow always did. No, not until he met Laura.

“So, you didn’t believe ‘til you did, and then, the world changed, because, you believed. Belief is only a product of the company we keep and how easily we scare. You do not scare easily.”

“And my company is questionable,” Shadow says.

“Always has been,” Odin smilingly replies. He goes on to say that the only thing that scares him is being forgotten.

Don’t worry, Odin. After thousand of years, it’s fairly safe to say, humanity will completely die out before you’re ever completely forgotten.

There are scenes of MS digging up Laura’s grave intercut with Shadow coming to his hotel room to find her sitting inside on the bed. “Hi, puppy.”

Fin.


End file.
